Thursday, January 31, 2008

I haven't started gardening at my new place so there's not much to show you for this month's garden update. Afterall, I'm sure you're probably sick of seeing my geraniums.
So I decided to show you the only houseplant I have -- my money tree plant. I'm too old to really get li xi (Vietnamese lucky money envelopes) for the Lunar New Year. So when I occasionally still get an envelope, I hang it on my tree.
(And in today's mini-rant, it's lunar! LUNAR! Lunar New Year! The Chinese aren't the only ones who follow the lunar calendar you know.)
Incidentally, if you look closely at the envelopes, you'll see they're from several different banks. Yes, folks, one of those "Sooo SoCal" things, is that not just Chinese banks but Wells Fargo and Bank of America provide complimentary red envelopes for their customers at this time of year. Better get your request in before they run out since the LUNAR New Year is only a week away! Are these available in NorCal? They weren't when I lived there a decade ago...
I bought my plant on clearance at Target long ago for dirt cheap. It's easily quadrupled in size since then. If you'd like one, I've seen them sold at the Farmers' Market in Alhambra and Chinatown.
Incidentally, I was chatting with a friend in Vietnam yesterday, and she was describing her house and wanted to know the Vietnamese word for houseplant. None of my dictionaries had houseplant. I came up empty on Vdict.com. I suggested cay nho o trong nha (little plant inside the house). Any of my Vietnamese readers got a better suggestion?
Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
*****
1 year ago today, a repurposed vinegar bottle as a vase for some roses.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Since it seems like Vietnamese noodles and rice dishes week in the Wandering Chopsticks test kitchen (Hah!), I figured it was about time I posted about Com Tam Thuan Kieu in San Gabriel. This is about the location on Valley Boulevard in the Hawaii Supermarket strip mall. There's another location on San Gabriel Boulevard, but I haven't eaten there in years so that'll have to be saved for another post.
There's several locations in Orange County too.

On this day, I met up with Henry Chan's Food Videos on one of our rare Vietnamese restaurant outings. After all, with 650 Chinese restaurants to choose from in the San Gabriel Valley, our default cuisine is usually Chinese. :P
Henry was cruising Valley Boulevard (which he frequently does when trying to figure where to eat), when he called me up to help him decide. I suggested various restaurants as he passed each intersection but nothing appealed to him. Until I suggested Com Tam Thuan Kieu.
Was it the thought of an icy glass of $1.75 Rau Ma (Vietnamese Pennywort Drink) on a hot day?

Tofu is a great addition to this braised pork dish as it absorbs all the rich flavor of the pork and caramel sauce. While you can buy fried tofu, I prefer doing it myself. I use soft tofu, slice it 1-inch thick, deep fry it, and then cut it. The frying helps the tofu maintain its shape during braising, but then cutting it will allow the unfried part of the tofu to absorb all the sauce.

Making caramel sauce is a must for this dish to provide color and flavor to the pork. If you're not going to do this step, then skip the sugar in the recipe as the coconut juice will provide plenty of sweetness on its own. The coconut juice will mostly cook off, leaving behind a slight sweetness to add depth to the pork. If you don't want any coconut juice at all, then simply substitute with water.

Monday, January 28, 2008

After experimenting with a bunch of food lately, I've been craving Vietnamese comfort foods. Which is great because it gave me a chance to update photos of some of my more popular recipes.

One of my favorites is Bun Thit Heo Nuong, Tom, Cha Gio (Vietnamese Rice Vermicelli Noodles with Grilled Pork, Shrimp, and Egg Rolls). Bun (rice vermicelli noodles) and com tam (broken rice) dishes may appear varied on restaurant menus but the key is to realize that the multiple listings are just various combos of those items. Add or subtract ingredients as you wish.

So this isn't so much a recipe, as it is an assembly list. Well, with a recipe for the grilled pork. :)

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Since the last few posts have been about shrimp, I thought this would be a good a time as any for a super quick and simple shrimp recipe.
Just a light Vietnamese marinade and a quick saute in butter. Yes, butter. Mmm.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Sometimes I cook based on my cravings. Sometimes, it's just a matter of what's on sale at the grocery store. For instance, yesterday I saw these head-on shrimp for only $2.99 a pound. $2.99 a pound!
So, of course, I bought a pound because I immediately knew how I wanted to cook them -- lightly seasoned with salt and Chinese five-spice powder, lightly coated with rice flour, and deep-fried until crispy. And as if that wasn't yummy enough, adding some fried Thai basil leaves and dried chili pods added extra zing.

Shrimp have a natural sweetness and plenty of flavor on their own. So I like to add just a little bit of salt and Chinese five-spice powder to bring this recipe to life. With its mix of cinnamon, star anise, cloves, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns, Chinese five-spice powder hits sweet, salty, sour, bitter, salty, and spicy flavor notes.

I like using rice flour when frying Asian foods because it's crispier than regular all-purpose flour, but not as hard as corn starch. If you can't get rice flour, then substitute with a mixture of half all-purpose flour and half corn starch.

Choose medium-sized white shrimp with soft, edible shells. I think head-on shrimp is best for this recipe, especially if there's lots of bright red roe inside the heads. Just detach the heads and suck out the roe to eat. :) Then plop the rest of the shrimp in your mouth.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Recently, one of my readers asked about a substitute for sugarcane in my Chao Tom (Vietnamese Shrimp Paste Wrapped Sugarcane) recipe. Well, the whole point of chao tom is that the sugarcane juices will flavor the shrimp as it cooks. So if sugarcane is not readily available, and you don't want to just wrap the shrimp on skewers, might I suggest turning it into tom tau hu ky (Vietnamese shrimp paste wrapped in bean curd skin)?

I first encountered this dish almost a decade ago at Da Nang Com Tam Tran Quy Cap in Little Saigon. Their version is still the best in town with its succulent shrimp paste and crispy bean curd skin. A must whenever I order a plate of broken rice.

Making it is super easy. It's finding the bean curd skin that may be the hard part for some of you. Bean curd skin or tofu skin is the film that forms on top of soy milk during production. It can be found fresh, dried, or frozen so check all areas of your local Asian grocery store if you're having difficulty finding it.

I've basically taken my chao tom recipe for the filling, wrapped it in the bean curd skin and deep-fried it.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I've been trying to avoid eating out, and have been using the opportunity to clean out my fridge and cupboards. I didn't want to go outside, rarely order delivery, didn't want to wait hours for pizza dough to rise, but I did have a wedge of French bread leftover...

Actually, when I was a kid, I used to do this with a regular slice of bread, ketchup, a sliced hot dog, and a slice of American cheese. Pretty ghetto, huh? Admit it, do any of you do that?

Again, this is one of those, do you really need a recipe for this? I almost always have tomato sauce in my cupboards. There was cheddar cheese in the fridge. The only acceptable meat was bacon. And my olive jar had been sitting in the fridge for a while.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

And the bac ha (Vietnamese taro stem). Although bac ha may resemble elephant ears, make sure you've got the alocasia odora variety or else you'll have a very allergic reaction. I just love how the spongy stalks soak up all the flavors.

Monday, January 21, 2008

My Oregon cousins were in town and the oldest '88's middle sister had a gift certificate to California Brewing Company that she wanted to use before it expired.
The restaurant brews some of their own beers, but I'm not a beer drinker so I didn't have any.

We were just hanging out in the late afternoon so we got some munchies.
Sliders with waffle fries.

What can I say? It's basic bar food. Nothing special, but not bad. Go during happy hours for drink and appetizer deals.
June 2009 Update: California Brewing Company is now closed. It is now 38 Degrees Ale House and Grill.
California Brewing Company (Closed)
100 W. Main St.
Alhambra, CA 91804
626-943-8430
*****
1 year ago today, I revisited an old haunt of mine, Kirala - Berkeley.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Sometimes my food cravings come in the strangest ways. After seeing Christine's post on frozen durian, I was immediately reminded of durian ice cream. And wondered why I hadn't eaten it in years.
Durian, sometimes referred to as the King of Fruits. Spiky outer layer, butter-like consistency inside. But it's the smell that makes it notorious. Durian is even banned from some public places in Thailand and Singapore. It's a love or hate thing. I don't know of anyone who's indifferent to the smell of durian. How would you describe the smell? Does it smell like rot or perfume to you?
The funny thing is, while I can't bear the smell of fresh or frozen durian, I love it in candy, cookies, shakes, and ...
...ice cream. Man! I literally haven't eaten durian ice cream in years. So I bought a quart for $4.29 at the San Gabriel Superstore.
Ooh, doesn't that look tempting? And no, you can't smell it unless you're really close. And even then, it's a muted smell. Mmm.
If you've wanted to try durian but have been afraid, I'd encourage you to start with ice cream.
So if durian is the king of fruits, who, or rather what is queen? Mangosteens!
San Gabriel Superstore
1635 San Gabriel Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
626-280-9998
*****
1 year ago today, juicy, crispy chicken and Belgian waffles at Merritt Bakery and Restaurant - Oakland.